Trump

Lever News - In the months before Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, the state’s legislature blocked a bill banning the sale of the type of assault rifle allegedly used in the attack... In January, a Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania House committee passed a bill banning the sale of assault weapons — against the unanimous opposition of Republicans on the panel. That legislation, however, was then tabled in the Pennsylvania assembly, facing stiff opposition from the state’s Republican lawmakers and the National Rifle Association.

 

Republicans against Trump -Here’s NC Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention, calls for violence last week: “Some folks needed killing! It's time for somebody to say it.”

Judge Cannon dismisses the classified documents case against Donald Trump

NY Times - The ruling by Judge Cannon, who was put on the bench by Mr. Trump, flew in the face of previous court decisions reaching back to the Watergate era that upheld the legality of the ways in which independent prosecutors have been named. And in a single swoop, it removed a major legal threat against Mr. Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to formally become the party’s nominee for president. Mr. Smith’s team will almost certainly appeal the ruling by Judge Cannon throwing out the classified documents indictment, which charges Mr. Trump with illegally holding onto a trove of highly sensitive state secrets after he left office and then obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them. 

NBC News -  The rooftop where a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources familiar with the agency’s operations told NBC News.

Daily Mail UK -  Donald Trump's would-be assassin purchased 50 rounds of ammunition just hours before the shooting, according to bombshell reports.

Daily Beast -  A former Bethel Park High School classmate of Donald Trump shooter Thomas Crooks described him on Sunday as a “loner” who was often bullied in school. The classmate told CBS affiliate KDKA that Crooks also often wore hunting outfits to school. He provided the affiliate with photos of Crooks in school wearing a Bethel Park High School hoodie.

Another former classmate, Michael Dudjak, told NBC News Crooks was “on his own a lot,” though he didn’t witness any bullying firsthand. He said he was with other former high school classmates on Saturday and they were all “in shock” over Crooks’ attack on Trump. “It’s definitely terrifying for someone you went to school with to commit such a heinous act... that’s the craziest thing about it when it entered my brain,” Dudjak told NBC. “You were in the same class as this person two years ago.” Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022, where he earned a $500 award for achievements in math and science, according to a Bethel Park Journal report.

He was rejected from his high school’s rifle club and told not to return “because of how bad a shot he was,” a former classmate told ABC News on Sunday...“It was considered like, dangerous.”

 WhoWhatWhy-  As we all shudder together at what just transpired, it is important to remember the simple fact that, through the Big Lie and attempting a coup, Trump has already proven himself to be a threat to democracy, and it stands to reason that things would only get worse in his second term. It is imperative that reasonable people not lose sight of that fact… or the consequent conclusion that Trump is perhaps the greatest source for the incitement of political violence in the US.

Some Republicans and their supporters, though, want to shield the former president from any criticism by claiming, without evidence, that the Democrats’ legitimate concerns with his policies, plans, and past behavior caused the attempt on his life.  That does not mean that Trump, his family, and all of the other victims of the failed assassination are not deserving of the country’s sympathy, as would be anyone beset by violence. However, it is also important to distinguish between this heinous crime and how Trump plans to transform the US if elected.